I am Reborn through Revenge

I rejected it

The door opened, I shifted my glance at once. A blonde girl of indeterminate age, the same height as my shoulders carried a ceramic tray with both of her hands and walked in. “Good Morning your Highness,” she said softly and curtseyed. She had a velvety voice and her dressing was very simple. She was on a brown saggy gown that didn't fit the shape of her body.

My gaze shifted to the tray she was carrying.

Goodness!

Whatever it was that she was carrying on that tray smelled delicious. I decided to take a closer look and I saw a well-grilled hot chicken, with some tasty-looking salad surrounding it. The flavor smelled so delicious, it billowed all over my whole room.

I couldn't help but remember that I had been so hungry. But now, my craving to eat food or anything that would just enter my mouth intensified.

“Good Morning!” I said. I tried to study this new visitor whom I had never seen before but I couldn't because she hadn't still raised her head. “Are…are you looking for someone?” I asked. To be honest, I wanted to ask her if the food was for me and not the other way round.

She raised her head. I saw an oval-shaped face with sharp thin lips and then a straight nose. Her dress was all I needed to know that she was a maid but her face? She had a face of a terrific female soldier who doesn't smile. “No. Just you, your Highness!”

Me? Why would she be looking for me? Especially with a tray of food? Different ideas rushed through my mind. But yet, when I look at the tray she was carrying, I would lose concentration for a while.

“What is it?” I asked. I looked at this girl again, she was not the type of girl I usually see around. Her face was like I had seen it somewhere before but I couldn't remember where exactly I had seen her.

“I have come to deliver this food to you, your Highness.” She brought the tray down and gently placed it on a stool beside my bookshelf.

I giggled. And to be honest, I was surprised. I had been craving for this food but I think that there were some important things I was missing and if I overlooked them, then I would be in for a rough drive on a very crazy horse.

When did it start exactly? Who would make such an order for food to be brought to my room? I asked myself.

I suspect it might be the Queen. “Who asked you to bring food to me in my quarters?” I asked. I was expecting her to say it was someone else or at the very least, tell me she had no idea. I focused on her face trying to read her lips and probably expression.

“Yes, it was the Queen's orders. This food was precisely made to be served to you in your quarters,” she said softly, with a face void of emotion.

She didn’t say what I was expecting her to say. I thought she was going to say something different.

“The Queen?”

She nodded.

But something was weird about this girl. She was confident as she spoke. Even though we have never met for the first time but she behaved as though she had been serving me in the palace for a very long time. I have had countless ordeals where female servants talk incoherently when they speak to me the first time particularly when I was in Livinas. But this wasn't the case here.

“Have I seen you before?” I asked. I wanted to know how long she had been in the palace.

“Yes.”.

“When?”

“Yesterday, your Highness!”

“Just yesterday?”

“Yes.” She still hasn’t smiled or frowned. Her face was as dead as a rock.

“Where exactly if I may ask?”

“Dinner hall, last night with the Queen.”

Oh!

That would be exactly where I had seen her. What was I thinking?

She was the girl that refused to drink the potion and also refused to pour hers away and Marie on the other hand was the only person who drank the mixture Nightwinder brought from the table.

I don't know if Marie did that out of Wisdom or out of foolishness. I would have done the same thing she did anyway because I know Queen Veronica too well, possibly more than she knows herself. I knew it was all a test.

But for a moment, I became curious. I hadn't seen Marie since then and there was no sign of her. I wanted to know about her too.

Could she have died? Maybe the tonic or whatever thing Night had given her might have killed her, I thought. “What about the other girl?” I asked.

She arched her curly brown brows. She didn’t utter a word, she seemed confused. She flicked her eyes up and down.

“I mean the girl beside you last night? Where is she? Is she alive?” I asked, raising a brow.

“Which one exactly, your Highness?” she asked, the velvety voice was slowly fading away and replaced with curiosity.

Oh! I almost forgot that there were four other girls in the room apart from her.

“The only girl that drank the potion.”

“I don’t know but I believe she should be alive. We got separated last night. Everyone slept in different rooms so I can’t say,” she said, her face blank, difficult to read.

I couldn’t understand why she drank the potion while others didn’t drink it. I felt like I should inquire further.

“Where should I keep this, Your Highness?” she asked. I have almost forgotten she carried the tray all this while. I didn’t want to eat the food and I still didn’t want to tell her to take it back.

“Just keep it at the table.” I gestured in the direction. She carefully placed it where I told her to.

“Wait!” I said as she was about to leave. “What’s your name?” I asked.

“Valerie!” she answered, keeping her face steady and unfazed.

Valerie? or does she want to say Valerie no smile-smile face? I wanted to call her this new name maybe the next time I would see her but I don't want familiarity with anything or anyone that comes through the Queen.

I didn’t understand why a new maidservant would be asked to bring a portion of food for me. What was the Queen up to? I wish I could figure it out.

“Why didn’t you drink the thing the Prince gave you last night?” I asked.

She kept quiet for a while as if she was thinking of what to say. “I couldn’t your Highness!”

“Why?” I looked straight into her eyes as if I could tell when she lies.

She kept mute few seconds and finally decided to speak.

She sighed. “The letter given to us says that two of the cups might be poisoned. I wasn’t sure which one exactly was poisoned since all three cups looked the same. I waited for others to drink theirs before I would drink mine but...I think the girl you are asking me of decided to drink hers. I think she wasn't able to read what was written on the table so she ignorantly drank hers before anyone else.'

Yes!

I heard the Queen asked Marie if she was educated. Marie shook her head at the Queen which means she wasn't educated. But she doesn’t look uneducated to me, rather she looked smart and elegant.

I furrowed my gaze to the girl opposite me, there was something I don’t like about this new girl Valerie but I don’t know what it was. For the Queen to make this her first assignment, then she must surely have found Valerie to be very useful, I thought. The Queen is someone who calculates her every step before she even makes one. So what was she trying to achieve with this girl? She was never up to something good so what could that be? To beat the Queen, you need to think faster than her, I reckoned.

“Can I go now your Highness?”

I have almost forgotten that she hadn’t left yet. I was drop-dead thinking about the Queen.

“Oh, sorry. You can leave now…Valerie!”

“Thank you, your Highness! I will be coming back soon to take the tray and the plates.”

“Alright."

She bowed and left without looking back. As she was leaving, I tried to think. My gaze fell accidentally on the table, and there lies the sumptuous breakfast. I lost focus, the hunger came back again. The food smelled so delicious and looked tempting. But how can I eat food the Queen sent down to me? My body was shaking and it longed for something to eat. It would devour on anything eatable it sees at the moment, but my instinct didn’t allow it. I felt like going to the Palace kitchen to prepare a portion of food for myself but it would be inappropriate for me to do that as a Prince. The whole thing looked scary and confusing. I couldn’t say exactly how I felt. The Queen would be delighted if she hears that I ate this food, I thought. I wanted to make her or anyone else think that I ate the food. My mother had always warned me not to eat anything from the Queen. I have lived by this rule ever since I was a child. Even when I was banished to the kingdom of Livinas, I had never eaten anything cooked in the palace before. Thanks to Brady who always snuck out to get me something for me to eat sometimes. So why does the Queen suddenly think that I would just take food like that from her? That was ridiculous, I thought. I went close to the table, I took the tray and poured in everything inside a basket, and hid it. I washed the tray and kept it back on the table, where I guessed Valerie would find it easily when she comes back.

What a great loss?